Rotting bodies pile up in Kingston, Jamaica

Source Agence Presse-France

Jamaica's leader is facing growing criticism over a near week-long assault on a slum to capture a powerful drug don as decomposing bodies of civilians lay unclaimed for days. The operation has left 73 civilians dead by official count and has divided the island, with many Jamaicans hailing what they see as a chance to fight rampant crime, but some alarmed at the heavy humanitarian price. An overpowering stench of death hung over a cemetery in the capital Kingston, where more than a dozen bodies were left in simple wooden coffins. Flies hovered over one, from which an exposed leg stuck out. Faced with rising allegations of abuse, the military and police went on the offensive, portraying residents of the destitute Tivoli Gardens area almost as an insurgent force that had hidden explosives and girded for heavy combat.